In 2021, we decided we wanted to get more focused and deliberate around our Impact. We’ve always known that helping kids do yoga and mindfulness was a good thing to do, but we wanted to know more about how kids were using Cosmic Kids, what impact they were seeing, and what more we could do to be helpful and effective in their lives.
So, we asked you about the impact Cosmic Kids has on the children in your care, and a whopping 3,378 parents, grandparents, carers, teachers and therapists took the time to tell us what you think. First and foremost – thank you! Cosmic Kids has always been a joint mission – we create kids yoga and mindfulness content, you create the space to share it with kids – so we’re delighted and grateful that so many of you were kind enough to share your experience and ideas. Getting such a high number of responses also means we can feel very confident in the results, and we can use the feedback as a launchpad for what we do next. For us, this is really exciting.
Here’s what you told us…
It’s working!
99% of the 3378 parents, carers and teachers surveyed, say Cosmic Kids makes a positive difference to their kids’ health
We’re over the moon! We make films and put them out into the world, and while we get lots of lovely messages from individual parents and teachers, we can feel quite distant from what kids take away from watching Cosmic Kids. To get such resounding and positive confirmation from so many people about our impact means the world to us, and fires us to do more with the platform we’ve created.
It’s mental as well as physical
Cosmic Kids has as much impact on mental health as on physical health
- – 99.1% of you said Cosmic Kids has a positive impact on kids’ physical health
- – 98.7% of you said Cosmic Kids has a positive impact on kids’ mental health
‘Cosmic Kids is one of the best things we’ve done for our son! It is amazing to watch him grow smarter, kinder, and stronger.’
Again we’re thrilled about this. Yoga is what we’re famous for, but weaving life lessons into every Yoga Adventure we go on is every bit as important too, and our Zen Dens really hone in on critical social and emotional learning that kids will hopefully take forward in their lives. The last few years have been such a challenging time for kids’ mental health, so we’re humbled and pleased that people see a role for us to play in supporting them. These results have also strengthened our commitment to producing social and emotional learning resources for schools. Watch this space for more news on that soon!
It’s great to establish a practice
Across a range of indicators, kids see significantly more benefits when they establish a regular practice
‘Cosmic Kids is one of the best things that I’ve discovered as a parent. It has instilled an early love of exercise and mindfulness in my child.’
A significant number of parents see benefits for their kids, even when they only do Cosmic Kids only once in a while. When we took an average across everyone who responded to the survey, including kids who do Cosmic Kids once a week or less…
- – 86.1% of you have seen a positive change in kids’ strength and balance
- – 64% of you have seen a positive change in kids’ confidence
- – 55.5% of you have seen a positive change in kids’ ability to focus
But, when we just focused on children who use Cosmic Kids pretty much everyday, impact increased across the board…
- – 90.3% of you have seen a positive change in kids’ strength and balance
- – 79.4% of you have seen a positive change in kids’ confidence
- – 76.25% of you have seen a positive change in kids’ ability to focus
Obviously it’s good to do more yoga and mindfulness, but the key here for us is about establishing a practice. We think kids get most out of doing yoga and mindfulness, not from doing as many hours as possible, but from establishing a regular practice that can help them each day to energise or reset. We also think that establishing a practice is the best way to embed yoga and mindfulness as tools that they can return to throughout their life, if they find it helpful. To help encourage this, we’re working on a number of new Cosmic Kids Quests (downloadable plans) to help kids to get started on their own practice. We’ll also be working with various amazing child development specialists to help kids who find movement and activity particularly tough, to use Cosmic Kids to establish yoga and mindfulness practices that work for them.
Their own toolkit
Parents and teachers use Cosmic Kids to help across a range of social and emotion issues
‘Out of the blue one day, my four year old said, you know mommy, if you feel some fear, you can blow up a balloon like this and let most of the fears float away and the rest you can get rid of with deep breaths.’
You told us that the top 10 social and emotional benefits that you’ve seen kids experience from using Cosmic Kids, were: Calmness, Focus, Confidence, Dealing with Feelings, Dealing with Anxiety, Happiness, Awareness, Relaxation, Attitudes, and Emotional Regulation. The breadth of issues here really inspires us, as do the stories you shared about kids independently taking the tools we put out into the world and using them when they encounter something challenging in their everyday lives. This has helped us to think critically about a Cosmic Kids’ Development Model – the range of inputs we think kids need to be Happy, Healthy and Strong, and how our content (over 400 films) can be arranged and built to help kids in a really holistic way. This feedback will also help open doors in more education and child development settings to encourage the use of Cosmic Kids to support children with their physical, social and emotional development.
You also told us…
Cosmic kids is helpful in a crisis
Parents and teachers used our films through the covid lockdowns to help kids stay active, have fun, and deal with anxiety
‘During the pandemic our kids were isolated, afraid and anxious. Thanks to Cosmic Kids they were able to find calm during this period, while exercising and having fun. Gratitude.’
We can’t assess the impact of Cosmic Kids over the last year without talking about Covid 19. While we all grappled with the awful effects of the pandemic, it’s important to respectfully acknowledge that Cosmic Kids as a business grew significantly because parents, carers and teachers around the world looked for online solutions to kids’ health and wellbeing. Many of you told us how helpful Cosmic Kids was during the various lockdowns, and we’re pleased that our content was able to support kids to cope with some of the challenges they faced. The experience will help us to be proactive when future global events occur that have an impact on kids’ wellbeing. We’re also currently working with specialists to create content for kids who have been bereaved, and we will look at how we can support kids facing other areas of trauma.
Cosmic Kids is for everyone
It can engage and support kids with wider physical and emotional needs
‘Your videos have been a huge part in our son’s development. He is on the spectrum, and since we started watching your videos, his gross motor skill and receptive language have flourished.’
A large number of you who responded to the survey are caring for neurodivergent kids, and kids that have wider physical or emotional needs. You told us that your kids find Cosmic Kids content engaging, different, easy to build into a routine, and that it can break through where other activities haven’t worked. We’re delighted that you have this trust in Cosmic Kids. Going forward we have plans to make more seated, signed, and subtitled content, and we’ll be working with specialists to curate and create content especially for neurodivergent kids.
And… Fun, Love, and Story
These are the words that 3378 parents, carers and teachers used most when they talked about Cosmic Kids!
We were over the moon (AGAIN!) that the three words you used most to describe why you choose Cosmic Kids were Fun, Story and Love. We’re delighted because these three words are central to everything we do. We make Cosmic Kids fun because kids need to enjoy learning if they’re going to engage. We use storytelling because that is how important messages and concepts have always been passed to the next generation. And we love working on our mission to bring yoga and mindfulness to kids all over the world, and the fact you so clearly expressed love for what we do means you add the essential in-person positivity and encouragement to kids while they participate. These aren’t just warm and fuzzy ideas, they’re the fundamental principles behind what makes Cosmic Kids work, and we’re delighted you see them and value them too.
Thank you again for providing us with this really affirming and constructive feedback. Here’s to our next set of adventures, together with you, helping kids go Cosmic!
